There are many situations in which there is a need to perform work on the sides of a high structure and in which access to such sides must be obtained by lowering a suspended platform over the edge of a top or roof portion of the structure. The lowering of the platform brings workers located on the platform into position to perform the necessary work. A problem connected with this procedure is that using known methods and apparatus for moving the platform into position to be lowered down the side of the structure requires extra workers in addition to the workers located on the platform. The extra workers perform the operation of moving the platform from a position over the top of the structure to a position outboard of the structure. In order to safely move the platform, known methods involve the positioning of a first crew of workers on the platform which is resting on the top of the structure, the raising of the platform into a position in which it is suspended from a pair of stanchions above the top of the structure, and then the moving of the platform by a second screw of workers into a position in which it is suspended from the stanchions outwardly of the side edge of the top of the structure. The second crew usually moves the platform by pushing and pulling on the platform or on the platform and the stanchions.
Once this operation has been performed, the necessary lowering of the platform may be accomplished by the first crew of workers positioned on the platform. The second extra crew of workers has nothing further to do until such time as the platform is raised and moved back into position over the top of the structure at the completion of the task or the end of the work day. Therefore, a good deal of work time is spent inefficiently by the second crew in either waiting for the first crew to complete their task or moving back and forth between the top of the structure and other work sites. This waste of work time can be a serious economic disadvantage.